A flash of lightning illuminated the sky, and in the instant of its flash, Gabriel saw he was no longer lying on a dry, sandy beach but was now surrounded by the river. The water was rising so rapidly he felt it working its way up his chest as he sat straight up. A panic suddenly hit him, and he was fully awake. “My drum, my coins, my knife . . . where are they?”
He turned onto his hands and knees, feeling around on the sand beneath the ever-rising water. He couldn’t see or feel anything.
The storm grew more violent. The wind creaked branches overhead, and another bolt of lightning shot from the sky. The glow that filled the sky illuminated a small object that appeared to be floating away from him. “My drum!” he shouted. Without even thinking about the depth of the water or the force of its flow, Gabriel stamped out closer to the middle of the flowing torrent. He could now see the strap of his drum was caught on a branch sticking out of the rushing water. Bobbing up and down, it looked as if it might slide off the branch at any minute.
Gabriel walked further out toward the branch and could now feel the water trying to lift him off his feet. He reached out as far as he could, not wanting to venture any deeper. His fingertips worked their way up the stick. Stretching as far as he could, he bent the branch toward him and grabbed the strap of his drum. As he did, the stick broke. He yanked at the strap and began reeling in the drum. He had it.
Another lightning bolt crashed nearby, and Gabriel could now clearly see the dangerous position he was in. All around him were high banks of the river. He couldn’t climb up out of the water, at least not here. But he knew he had entered the sandy beach without jumping down off a steep embankment, so he decided to try and head back upstream to the beach he had just left. He turned and took a step back the way he’d come, but the force of the flowing water was so strong it nearly knocked him down. He knew that, no matter what, he had to keep his feet under him. If he fell and was pulled under by this flooding river, he would drown.
Gabriel saw the roots of giant oaks overhead sticking out from the banks, so he walked at an angle against the current until he reached the tangle of roots. He grabbed hold and pulled his way from one root to the next. His drum, now slung over his shoulder, bobbed along behind him. The rain still poured down, pelting his face, making it even harder to see in the darkness. He could feel the stony river bottom under his shoes and knew he had not yet reached the beach.
Standing straight up now, Gabriel realized the water had reached his chest. The more it rose, the harder it was for him to move upstream. Soon it would be over his head. He reached the last of the roots that he could grasp. As he looked up, he saw the steep embankment slope down to the water. He took one more step and felt the sandy bottom. He’d have to walk the rest of the way out without holding onto anything. Exhausted from forcing his way through the current, he took careful steps along the sandy bottom. He stumbled on something on the riverbed and began to fall, but he regained his balance by turning himself sideways to the current and spreading his legs wide.
Gabriel felt around carefully with his foot and found the object that had tripped him. Whatever it was, it was sticking straight up out of the sand. Then he realized what it could be. He remembered sticking his knife in the sand just before drifting off to sleep.
To pick it up, he would have to immerse himself in the river — something he had desperately tried to avoid. Still, a knife might be essential to his survival. Without another thought, he quickly counted to three and knelt down into the raging water.
The force of the water knocked him back as he held his breath. He hunched up into a ball and crawled forward, the glow of lightning eerily filtered through the water above him. He felt around on the ground, clouding the water with sand, which now drove into his face, pelting his skin and blocking his vision. All he could do was feel for the knife. He groped on the bottom for nearly a minute and was about ready to give up. He only hoped that when he came up for air, the water would not be over his head.
As he began to push upward off the bottom, his hand touched something. He grabbed it and shot up out of the water. He reached the surface and gasped. The water was to his chin now and sweeping his feet from under him. Desperately, he tried to reach down with his feet. As he stretched out his legs, his face tipped forward in the water. He now felt his whole body begin to float on the current. Gabriel stuck his foot down one last time. It hit the bottom and he pushed off as hard as he could and dove toward the shore.
His body splashed hard in the water. Both his feet found the sandy bottom, and again he dove forward. The water was only up to his chest now, and he clamored up and out of the water. Gasping for breath, he ran senselessly through some brush, away from the raging sound of the flooded river filling the air behind him. Branches whipped his face. Running in the darkness, not once, but twice he ran into a hard tree, which knocked him back. He regained his balance, grabbed tight to his drum, and
